This week was rather slow, as neither I nor the players had a clear goal established and rather spontaneous ideas dragged the game along. Nonetheless, the whole group made it to second level!
It was the same players as last week:
- La Fleur (lvl 2), human wizard, 349 XP
- Roderick Clearwater (lvl 2), human rogue, 369 XP
- Tapio of Gareth, human fighter (lvl 2), 349 XP
- Dargoth the Daring, human fighter (lvl 2), 423 XP
We started in Ansvell. The group decided to contact the local outpost of the Societas Hesindiarum Intelligentiae, to learn a little more about the strange occurances and mutations in and around Ansvell.
This took me completely by surprise. I knew that there was a sages guild based in Lesserton, but I had not prepared it. So I basically made everything up as we went, and the little inconsistencies made the players extremely suspicious. This changed the guild somewhat, and I have not yet decided how exactly.
They were greeted by Hesindion Binfane, an archeologist who was studying stones. La Fleur and Dargoth quickly figured out that he was studying Achaz reliefs, and seemed to inquire about a certain idol the Achaz worshipped. He was interested in Achaz relics, mostly mosaics and stone reliefs.
He told some background information about the ruins: It used to be an important Achaz city, which was destroyed during the last war between Achaz and Elves. Wild magic devastated both empires, and orcs used the opening to pour in and sack the area. A couple orcs remained in the ruins and changed greatly, turning into the lizorcs that today live there. When asked whether the mutations of the burghers of Ansvell had the same cause, he reacted denyingly, pretending the group must have falled to optical illusions.
The players assume that he might have caused the mutations, but are unsure whether he is an Asfaloth cultist who caused this change deliberately or whether it was an accidental side-effect of his studies.
With this in mind and two honey addicts in tow, the group went on their way to Lowangen. The addicts greatly suffered from withdrawal symptoms, which slowed them down. When the group woke on the fourth day, one of the addicts did not rouse. He died in his sleep. Ilmbold, the second addict and Black Jandora’s agent, was in a horrible conditon, and the group raced him to the famous Jhaell Sternenschweif, who is said to be one of the best healers in Adventuria. But despite their hard work, Ilmbold died from the withdrawal.
While the rest fought for Ilmbold’s life, Tapio brought the honey to Black Jandora to ensure that she would not send a squad of assassins against the group for crossing her. When hearing about her agent’s state, she vowed to pay the healer in full and handed 350 gold pieces as reward for the honey. When she learnt about Ilmbold’s demise, she also paid for a funeral.
The next day, they went on a shopping spree and bought all kind of adventuring gear, including potions and belts. Afterwards, the group visited the Hall of Miracles, where they learnt that the sword they found was probably made from an alloy of copper and asthenil, which is easily blunted (and thus not very useful against armoured opponents), but also extremely resistant against heat (and thus very useful against fire elementals or dragons). The smith guildswomen offered 75 gold pieces for the sword, but the group kept it.
Last, they went to the barracks and spoke to Erbert Domian, captain of the guard. He invited them jovially, told them that the rescued officers had been sent by the Middle Realm to ask for help in the civil war, but that he could not comply as the orcs prevented all military actions south of the city due to a spy tower. So far, all attempts even to spy at it failed, and he would offer an orcish healing potion (with slight side-effects) for anyone who was willing just to investigate. The group declined, and decided rather to search for the missing Agdan Dragenfeldt, which will happen during the next session.